Here’s a news bulletin that might not appeal to Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and former New York mayor who has spent $50 million in the last year on public advocacy calling for stricter gun control laws.

“A majority of Americans, 56 percent, believe that if more Americans carried concealed weapons after passing a criminal background check and training course, the country would be safer,” reports Frank Newport, director of the Gallup Poll. That includes 82 percent of Republicans, 59 percent of independents and 31 percent of Democrats — along with 74 percent of gun owners, 62 percent of men and 50 percent of women.

Forty-one percent of Americans overall disagree with this idea, saying that concealed carry conditions would make the nation “less safe.” That includes 16 percent of Republicans, 39 percent of independents and 67 percent of Democrats who agree with that — along with 24 percent of gun owners, 37 percent of men and 45 percent of women.

“Previous research shows that three in four Americans are opposed to banning handguns, and Americans in the past have overwhelmingly interpreted the Second Amendment as giving Americans the rights to own guns. All of this research supports the conclusion that Americans believe they should be allowed to own and carry guns, but with more stringent background checks. Americans are inclined to believe that carrying properly permitted guns could make the country safer,” Mr. Newport writes in his analysis.

In the new poll, 52% of those surveyed said the Democratic Party’s position on guns was “outside the mainstream,” compared to 38% who said it was within the mainstream. By contrast, 38% said the Republican Party was outside the mainstream, compared to 51% who said it was in the mainstream. Most Republicans staunchly oppose stricter gun control.

At the same time, 55% of Americans say laws covering gun sales should be made more strict, compared to 9% who say they should be less strict and 34% who favor keeping laws as they are now.

What the WSJ article about the pool fails to mention is that those polled who claim that gun laws should be “more strict” have consistently said that for decades when asked such a broad question, but when they are then polled on specific, detailed proposals, that fig leaf of support for “more strict” laws always falls apart.

The radical left wing temporarily at the top of the Democrat Party have chronically misunderstood America’s gun cultures, and have consistently misread demographic data (in a way that is laughably racist).

They’ve now laid bare their clear intent to gut the Second Amendment entirely.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com.
Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun.
He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.
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